


Ties that Bind

by yafan92



Series: The High Lord, High Lady, and Spymaster [8]
Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Light Bondage, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:28:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28798377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yafan92/pseuds/yafan92
Summary: When Azriel starts feeling insecure, Rhys and Feyre are quick to reassure him that they love him just the way he is.Yes, the title means exactly what you think it means.
Relationships: Azriel/Rhysand (ACoTaR), Feyre Archeron/Azriel, Feyre Archeron/Azriel/Rhysand, Feyre Archeron/Rhysand
Series: The High Lord, High Lady, and Spymaster [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1901665
Comments: 18
Kudos: 93





	Ties that Bind

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thank you to the lovely [HisAndHisAlone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HisAndHisAlone/pseuds/HisAndHisAlone) for proofreading this for me, and for writing a beautiful [spinoff chapter](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28144896) that gave me some ideas for this one. If you haven't read hers yet, go check it out!

I stared down at my plate, studiously avoiding eye contact with Azriel across the table as Rhys dropped what had to be the twentieth innuendo of the evening and dinner was only halfway done. "...and of course, Azriel was _tied_ _up_ with his work as Spymaster, so he wasn't able to help," Rhys continued, regaling us with the story of one of his and Cassian's seemingly countless drunken misadventures. We'd all been exceedingly busy since our trip to the Court of Nightmares a few days ago, but that hadn't stopped Rhys from teasing both the shadowsinger and me with the prospect of some light restraint in the bedroom. I was certainly intrigued, but the dinner table was not the place for that conversation.

Elain, thankfully, was blissfully unaware of any double-entendre, but Lucien was shooting me questioning glances that I pretended not to see. From the small, knowing smirk on his face, I was doing a poor job of hiding my reactions, so I decided to put myself out of my misery.

“Elain,” I cut in as Rhys finished his story, “I saw you cleared a new patch in the garden this week. What are you going to plant there?” I breathed a sigh of relief as my sister’s eyes lit up and she launched into an explanation of some new sort of berry bush she had discovered recently, and felt Rhys’s amusement down the bond.

_“Weren’t you enjoying my story?”_ he teased, reaching over and laying a warm hand on my knee.

I covered his hand with one of my own. _“I always enjoy your stories, but Az looks like he’s about five seconds away from disappearing into his shadows and never coming back.”_

His chuckle echoed down the bond. _“I suppose we can’t have that,”_ he conceded, sneaking a glance of his own at the male in question. Azriel was listening to Elain prattle on about the pie she hoped to make once the bushes started producing fruit, but his shadows betrayed his continued agitation as they swirled around his body.

Throughout the rest of the meal, I kept an eye on the shadowsinger. Azriel was always quiet, of course, but for the past couple of days there had been an added layer of tension to his silence. In the few private moments we’d had together he’d seemed distant, and I had caught a pained expression on his face when I brushed a kiss to his cheek. Across the table, he was still refusing to look at me, so I resolved to hunt him down afterward and demand an explanation for his recent behavior.

As soon as our plates were cleared Azriel excused himself, saying that he had a few pressing matters to attend to. I shot a quick glance at Rhys, who no doubt felt my spike of worry down the bond, but he leaned back in his chair, seemingly unconcerned. I forced myself not to chase after Azriel, instead reaching for the bottle of wine and pouring myself another glass, but I couldn’t deny that his quick retreat felt like a rejection. Was he just now regretting our arrangement? He had been so affectionate not even a week ago, quick with both a smile and a teasing remark, and I found myself replaying our last encounter over and over again in my mind as I sipped at my wine, looking for anything that might have pushed him away.

_“Just go talk to him, Darling,”_ Rhys said at last, his mental voice tinged with exasperation. Startled, I looked over at him, realizing belatedly that my shields were down and he had definitely heard everything I had been thinking. I flushed a little, but he gave me a small nod of encouragement as I downed the rest of my wine and pushed back from the table.

“I think I’m going to turn in early,” I announced, wishing Elain and Lucien goodnight. As I strode from the dining room I reached out with my mind, relieved when I sensed Azriel in his chambers. I hurried up the stairs and along the hallway, and moments later was staring at his closed door. Although I was sure he knew I was there, I still reached out a hesitant hand to tap on the wood before me.

“Az?” I called softly. “Can I come in?”

For a long minute, there was no reply. My heart squeezed in my chest as I waited, and I was surprised to find tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. I blinked them back, trying to keep my breaths even, but my knees threatened to buckle with relief when I finally heard a rustle from within the room and Azriel opened the door.

I couldn’t help it - I flung my arms around his waist and buried my head in his chest. He stiffened in surprise, but gently wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me into the room. We stood like that for several heartbeats before I finally worked up the nerve to tilt my head up towards his.

“Feyre,” he said, his hazel eyes scanning my face as he brought one hand up to gently cup my cheek. “What’s wrong?”

I let out a small, humorless laugh. “That’s what I came to ask you,” I replied, pulling away from him and crossing the room to sit on his perfectly-made bed. “I know Rhys has been a bit much this week -” a pulse of indignation had me slamming up my mental shields “- but it feels like you’re pushing us away.”

An emotion I couldn’t place flickered across his features as he ran a hand through his hair, his shadows again twining themselves around his arms and legs. He made no move either to leave or to approach me, and the lack of denial had my heart plummeting into my stomach. “Can you just…” I began, then stopped to clear the lump that had formed in my throat, dropping my eyes to the floor. “Can you tell me if it’s something I did?”

My vision blurred as I stared at the ground, and I almost didn’t notice his boots enter my field of view. His hand was gentle but firm as he grabbed my chin, pulling my face up, and I was shocked to find devastation in his eyes when I finally met his gaze. “Feyre, how can you possibly think that?” he asked, dropping to his knees so I didn’t have to crane my neck to look at him. “You are incredible. You’re brave, and caring, and beautiful and smart.” He looked so earnest that the tightness in my chest eased a fraction, even as confusion warred with my relief.

“Then what is it?” I asked. “Do you just not want to talk about ropes? Because you know you can tell Rhys to piss off and he will.”

Azriel sighed, enveloping both of my hands with his and dropping them in my lap. He looked down to where our fingers were intertwined, rubbing small circles on my wrist with his thumb, and was silent for several moments. “It’s not that,” he admitted at last, his voice quiet. “I do want that, with both of you.” He raised his head at last, and I finally recognized the emotion swimming in his eyes. It was _fear_. “It’s just… the last partner I tried that with…” he seemed to be struggling to find the words to explain his thoughts, so I gave his hands an encouraging squeeze. “It wasn’t a serious relationship,” he continued at last, “and I think what I asked her for made her think less of me, so she left soon after. And the three of us have a great thing going and I don’t want to fuck it up,” he said, dropping his gaze again. “I know I have a lot of baggage, and I’m so grateful to have you both and I am terrified that one day you’ll wake up and realize you deserve better than me,” he finished in a rush.

My heart broke as I gaped at him, this beautiful, powerful, loyal male who was _afraid_ of me and felt _unworthy_ of me. I lowered my mental shields and reached out to Rhys, replaying Azriel’s words for him, and I felt a similar pang of sorrow down the bond as he too realized what was plaguing the shadowsinger. I left the connection open, speaking for both of us as I finally found my voice.

“Az. _Azriel,”_ I repeated, urging him to look at me with a strong squeeze of his hands. He reluctantly met my gaze, and the vulnerability there threatened to destroy me. “I could never think less of you. _Never._ And neither would Rhys.” I felt Rhys’s agreement down the bond. “You are kind, and loyal, and whoever that female was, she was a gods-damned fool to let you go.” Azriel’s expression had turned tentatively hopeful as I spoke, so I slipped one hand up to cup his jaw. “And we don’t intend to make that same mistake, so unless you’re tired of us…?” I trailed off, raising my eyebrows in question.

Azriel’s eyes were wide and I felt the feather-light touch of his shadows skimming my skin, as though trying to detect a trick or lie. “No,” he breathed, and I nearly sobbed with relief as I saw the corner of his lip curl up. “I am definitely not tired of you.”

“Good,” I replied, returning his smile before wrapping my fingers in the silky hair at the nape of his neck and hauling his mouth to mine. His kiss was tentative at first, so I tightened my grip and ran my tongue along the seam of his lips. He groaned as he opened for me, wrapping his arms around my waist to pull me closer as our tongues tangled. We were so caught up in each other that neither of us noticed Rhys lingering in the doorway until he cleared his throat.

“It’s very rude of you two to start without me,” he complained as we broke apart, startled, to look over at him. A small smile played about his lips, although I could see an echo of the pain Azriel’s confession had caused in his violet eyes as he crossed the room to us. He held out a hand to the shadowsinger, who still knelt in front of me, and Azriel regarded it for a moment before grasping it and letting Rhys haul him to his feet.

Instead of releasing him, Rhys pulled Azriel into a tight hug, wrapping both his arms and wings around him. Azriel shuddered and buried his face in Rhys’s neck, and Rhys murmured something too quietly for even me to hear as he held the shadowsinger. They stood like that for a long moment, before Azriel pulled back enough to press a soft kiss to Rhys’s lips. The tenderness in the gesture caused the ache in my chest to return, and I rose to my feet and nudged gently at Rhys’s wing. He opened it for me, pulling me into their embrace, and I felt all the remaining tension disappear as I breathed in their soothing scents of citrus and cedar.

I would have been content to stay wrapped up in them for the rest of the night, but Rhys shifted, retracting his wings and folding them back behind him. “Come to bed with us,” he said softly, and I looked up in time to see Azriel nod. Rhys’s grip tightened, then darkness folded around us and we were standing in our bedroom. Only then did he release us completely, stalking over to sit on the bed, a wave of his hand setting a fire roaring in the fireplace as he toed off his shoes.

“So,” he drawled, looking over to where Azriel and I still stood entwined, “are either of you going to join me?” He patted the bed beside him in emphasis.

I grinned up at Azriel, capturing his hand in mine, and dragged him with me as I kicked off my own shoes and walked over to the bed. Rhys pulled me into his lap, so I gave the shadowsinger’s hand a tug, and he gingerly sat down next to us to pull his boots off. I watched him from beneath lowered lashes as Rhys pressed soft kisses to my neck, and the moment he set his second boot aside I was sliding into his lap instead, my fingers going immediately to the straps on his flying leathers as our lips met again.

Somehow, among the clashing of lips and tongue and teeth, I managed to get his leather jacket off, Rhys helping me pull it over his wings as Azriel’s hands landed on my hips. Rhys also made quick work of his undershirt, and I pushed him down onto his elbows as my hands found the waistband of his pants. I broke our kiss to stand and divest him of both pants and undershorts, and then Rhys was standing next to me, both of us staring down at the male reclining on the bed before us.

Rhys leaned forward slightly, reaching into the empty space between us, and closed his hand around a long, silky black length of rope. Azriel’s eyes widened as Rhys slowly, teasingly, pulled the full length from the pocket realm he had opened, his pupils blown as he looked back and forth between my mate’s face and his hand. I couldn’t help the small smirk that crept its way up my lips as I noticed Azriel’s _other_ reaction to the rope - he was now fully at attention, his neck and face flushed as his breathing became more rapid.

“Lie down,” Rhys ordered, and his tone was full of the primal command he rarely wielded. Azriel’s eyes glazed further as he obeyed, his wings spread out beneath him, and Rhys straddled his hips and pulled Azriel’s hands together, wrapping the rope around his wrists before securing it to the headboard. He leaned down, searching Azriel’s face intently, and was gentle when he spoke again. “Tell us to stop at any time, Az. We’ll love you just the same.”

I saw the exact moment Rhys’s words registered with the shadowsinger, his eyes closing briefly, and when they opened again the intensity of his gaze shocked me. He shot me a quick glance, before one side of his lips curled up. “Do your worst, High Lord,” he replied, and I could have sworn the shadows in the room flared for a moment as Rhys shot him a wicked grin.

“Feyre, darling,” Rhys called, looking over at me. “I’m sure you remember where Azriel’s wings are most sensitive, don’t you?” I met his smile with one of my own as I climbed onto the bed next to them and ran a finger down the top of Azriel’s wing, stopping just before I reached the base of his talon. Azriel groaned, pressing his hips up into Rhys’s and clenching his hands around the rope that tethered him to the bed as I let my hand linger there, drawing feather-light circles on the translucent membrane. Rhys’s chuckle sent a shiver down my spine as he shucked off his own shirt, tossing it aside before palming Azriel’s hard length.

_“With me, Darling,”_ he said down the bond as he slid down Azriel’s body, settling in between his legs. Azriel groaned again as Rhys swirled his tongue around the tip of his member before taking it fully into his mouth. I watched, enraptured, as Rhys slowly withdrew, hollowing out his cheeks before diving back down, and almost forgot my role until he shot me a look. I moved to straddle Azriel’s bound arms, facing Rhys so I could stroke both wings at once in time with his movements, and Azriel nearly arched off the bed as we both set to work.

It only took three or four strokes before Azriel was panting, and a few more after that he started whimpering, pleas and curses falling from his mouth on every exhale. I snuck a glance down at his face to find his eyes squeezed shut, the tendons in his neck standing out as he clenched his jaw. “That’s it, Azriel,” I murmured, leaning down toward him. “Look at me. I want to watch you come undone for us.”

His eyes shot open, finding mine as every muscle in his body seemed to tense. “Feyre, please,” he whined, struggling against his bindings, and I took pity on him, reaching down to grasp the base of both talons. I rubbed my thumbs in small circles, my gaze never leaving his face as his moans reached a crescendo. Suddenly he stiffened, his eyes squeezing shut as he let out a small noise that I immediately wanted to hear again, before relaxing completely as a peaceful expression settled over his features. I gave his wings a few last, light strokes, each one causing a shudder down his body before I leaned off to the side, settling next to him and trailing a hand across his heaving chest.

I looked over my shoulder to see Rhys sitting back on his heels, a smug smile on his face as his hands rested on Azriel’s thighs. A shifting of the torso under my hand pulled my attention back to the shadowsinger, who was looking between my mate and me with naked adoration. “Let me touch you,” he breathed, his eyes still wide. “Please, Feyre, Rhys…”

I leaned over and tugged at the knot in the rope, sliding it from between the slats of the headboard. As soon as I had him freed, Azriel pounced, pinning me to the bed beneath him. His lips crashed into mine, his body a solid, comforting weight pressing me into the mattress. The intensity of his kiss stole my breath, and I was the one left panting when he pulled away. The bed dipped as Rhys settled down next to me, and as Azriel leaned over to capture his lips as well, I noticed my mate had taken a moment to shed his own pants and underwear. Feeling vastly overdressed, I wriggled out from under Azriel and stripped, eager to rejoin the two males where they lay entangled on the bed.

I crawled back over to them, creating a space for myself up against their bodies, and felt a muscular arm drape itself around my waist as I traced the tattoos across Azriel’s shoulder with my lips. I looked up to find him watching me as Rhys mirrored my movements on his other side, the shadowsinger’s expression awestruck as his fingers tightened on my hips. I watched as his gaze dropped from my face, sweeping over my naked body before dragging slowly back up, a slight narrowing of his eyes my only warning before he pressed me onto my back once more, dipping his head to suck my nipple into his mouth.

I tried to arch into him, but his other hand came to my stomach, holding me in place as he grazed my sensitive skin with his teeth. Heat spread through my body from his mouth down to my core, every nerve ending alight as he switched to my other breast. I let out a low moan as he lingered there for a moment, drawing small circles with his tongue, before sliding both hands down to my knees, pulling them apart so he could settle in between them. My hands wound into his hair as he kissed his way down my torso, pausing to suck a mark into my stomach as I writhed beneath him and resisting my efforts to push his mouth further south.

“Azriel,” I whined, drawing out the syllables of his name. His eyes flicked up to meet mine and I pouted at him, shifting my hips again in silent demand. He chuckled and finally acquiesced, trailing one hand between my legs to tease my entrance as his mouth followed. My focus narrowed to the bundle of nerves there as his tongue circled it slowly, my breaths coming in short pants as the anticipation of pleasure built up. I cried out as he at last gave me what I craved, releasing his hair to grasp handfuls of the sheets as he drove two fingers into my slick heat, curling them slightly to hit just the right spot.

Caught up as I was in the shadowsinger, I hadn’t noticed Rhys move until he appeared over Azriel’s shoulder, standing behind him at the edge of the bed. I watched as he grabbed Azriel by the hips, positioning him up onto his knees as I heard the now-familiar pop of the uncorking of the bottle of oil. To his credit, Azriel barely missed a beat as Rhys pressed a finger into him, a low groan against my core the only acknowledgement he gave as his own fingers continued their steady thrusts into me.

"What do you think, Feyre darling?" Rhys asked as he withdrew his fingers and lined up his hips with Azriel's. "Can Azriel get you to your release before I get to mine, or are we going to have to tie him up again and teach him how to pleasure you properly?" The grin on his face was practically feline as Azriel let out a strangled moan, which I echoed as his tongue worked frantically between my legs.

Rhys hissed as he pressed into Azriel, gripping his hips tightly as he inched his way in. He held him steady as he withdrew, meeting my gaze over the shadowsinger's shoulder as he thrust into him harder this time, the force of his motion pressing Azriel's face and hand into me more forcefully than before. I moaned again at the extra pressure, clenching my inner walls around Azriel’s fingers as they scraped deliciously against every sensitive spot within me. “Fuck, Rhys,” I panted. “Do that again.”

His eyes glittered as he obeyed, setting a steady pace that had my legs squeezing around Azriel’s head as I felt the rising wave of my release begin to build. I threw my head back, watching the two gorgeous males before me through slitted eyes, both of them glistening with sweat. Rhys gritted his teeth, closing his eyes as though it took all of his concentration to keep his strokes even, and the expression of intense concentration on his face only served to push me higher. I ground my hips back into Azriel with every thrust, and it only took a few more strokes before the tension broke, my climax crashing over me as I shuddered and writhed on the bed. Azriel worked me through it, his motions gentle even as his free hand tightened on my thigh, holding himself steady under the continued onslaught from Rhys.

When I finally stilled, Azriel withdrew his hand, pressing a kiss to my inner thigh as he braced both palms flat on the bed. His head hung as he rocked backward, impaling himself on Rhys’s length. I watched the muscles in his shoulders tense and ripple beneath his tattoos, and found myself reaching for him with my mind. His head snapped up as he felt my mental caress, his eyes widening before I felt his shield lower, allowing me access. His gaze, molten with pleasure, stayed on my face as I entered his mind. I wrapped my consciousness around his, feeling every sensation as Rhys moved inside him and mirroring them with mental strokes of my own. Azriel’s mouth dropped open as Rhys and I worked in tandem, his breath coming in short gasps as we picked up the pace.

Rhys slammed into Azriel as he chased his own release, and I focused on matching his intensity to bring the shadowsinger to a second climax. Moments later, I was rewarded as Rhys stilled, groaning his pleasure, and I sensed Azriel’s vision going dark as he spilled onto the sheets. I kept my presence feather-light as he came back down from his high, withdrawing once his eyes found mine again. A small grimace crossed his features as Rhys stepped away from him but he was otherwise unmoving except for his rapid breathing in the aftermath of what we had done.

Rhys settled down next to me, tucking me into his side and exchanging the soiled sheets for clean ones with a causal wave of his hand as he regarded the shadowsinger who still knelt at the foot of the bed. “What the _fuck,_ ” Azriel finally said, and I tried but utterly failed to hold back a small giggle. Rhys’s chuckle reverberated through me as Azriel’s gaze vacillated between us, his expression caught somewhere between accusation and awe.

“I see Feyre introduced you to another of the benefits of bedding a daemati,” Rhys drawled, and Azriel finally sat up to run a hand distractedly through his hair.

“Mother above,” he replied. “That was…” He shook his head helplessly, at a loss for words.

I gave him a satisfied grin, patting the space on my other side. “Stay with us tonight, Az. Please?”

He shot a quick glance at the door, hesitating, so I reached out with my mind again and cozied up against his shields, trying my best to send feelings of warmth and comfort to him the way I did down the bond to Rhys. Something must have gotten through, because he relaxed slightly and nodded, crawling up the bed and molding his front to my back. His face settled into the crook of my neck and I sighed in contentment, burrowing my own into Rhys's chest.

The three of us lay in a comfortable tangle of limbs, another wave of Rhys's hand dimming the fire and snapping the curtains shut. In the quiet darkness, Azriel's voice was barely more than a sensation of breath across my cheek as he whispered, "Thank you, Feyre." I wanted to tell him he had nothing to thank me for, but already his breath was evening out as his powerful body slipped into unconsciousness. So instead, I wove my fingers through his, bringing our entwined hands to rest right over my heart as I closed my eyes and followed him into sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> For all you lovely people who asked for more spice/angst/feelings, I hope you enjoyed this! I will likely be revisiting this chapter sometime in the future from Azriel's POV, but for now wanted to move on to some other ideas :)


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